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| |    What To Expect With Treatment For Ear Infections by Jerome O. Klein, M.D. reviewed by Lynn Cates, M.D., F.A.A.P. and Laura Jana, M.D., F.A.A.P. Once you start giving your child her antibiotic, she should improve substantially within 48 to 72 hours. If she doesn't, you should contact her healthcare provider since she may need a different antibiotic, or she may have developed a new infection (e.g., throat or lung). Even when an appropriate antibiotic has been used and the middle ear fluid has been sterilized--that is, all of the bacteria have been killed--middle ear fluid will persist an average of three weeks. Although a child generally will not have acute signs of illness from the sterile fluid, she may have some hearing impairment until the fluid resolves-and in some cases this may take months. In general, it's OK for a child with an ear infection to resume normal activities, including playing outside and going to day care or school, once her fever is gone. She also may bathe, shower, or swim as long as she does not have a perforated eardrum. Flying in airplanes is permitted as well. You can make your infant's air travel more comfortable by giving her a bottle or a pacifier during changes in altitude (like takeoff and landing). Your older child can chew sugarless gum to help equalize her middle ear pressure and reduce her discomfort. Some children improve initially but then get sick again. The return of ear infection symptoms within a few days of the initial improvement usually represents a relapse, meaning that the original infection was not fully cured. The return of symptoms two or more weeks after the first infection, usually represents recurrence (or a new infection).
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